Microsoft says it won't make its own smart phone

Microsoft has shot down rumours that it's going to make its own mobile, saying it's perfectly happy with its current partners thank you very much.

When asked in an interview with Information Week whether the software giant had plans to create a Windows Phone device bearing its own logo, Greg Sullivan, the senior marketing manager for Windows Phone responded, "No, we do not.

"We have a strong ecosystem of partners that we are very satisfied with," he said.

Those partners include companies such as HTC, Samsung, Huawei and of course Nokia, which has invested heavily in Microsoft's tile-based operating system through its Lumia series of smart phones.

Last week Microsoft lifted the lid on Surface, an iPad-bothering tablet that bears the Microsoft brand name. Powered by Windows 8, Surface is the company's effort to take the fight directly to Apple, and prompted speculation that the Xbox-maker could try the same trick with smart phones.

Microsoft administered a shin-kick to its Windows Phone customers, by revealing that existing devices running the patchwork platform won't be updated to Windows Phone 8 when it launches later this year. Even recent phones such as the Nokia Lumia 900 will be left in the dust.

Following that revelation, Microsoft may be keen to dispel any rumours before they take hold. I suspect Microsoft is also keen to keep on side its Windows Phone partners, who may have been wondering whether the company was planning on ditching their smart phones in favour of an own-brand model.

Time to play CEO -- what would you do if you were in charge of Microsoft? Tell me in the comments.

Facebook has changed your email address without telling you

Bad Facebook! In yet another sneaky change made without telling anyone, Facebook has switched the email shown on your profile, replacing your real email address with the Facebook-provided email you never use. No biscuit!

So when friends come to your Facebook profile looking to remind themselves what your email address is, they'll find your email listed as cnet.reader@facebook.com instead of the Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo address you specified.

A small change -- and easily fixed -- but a significant one nonetheless. Facebook has taken a lot of stick for changing the way the service works, like when it introduced Timeline. But this is the first time, to our knowledge, that Facebook has changed information you supply about yourself.

I'm going to say that again: Facebook has changed the information you provide about yourselfwhich is intended to be displayed to others. That's a very big difference from changing the way you scroll through photos or moving the home page about a bit.

Imagine if Facebook changed your job title, or your name, or your photo. Not good. 

Will the change affect your day-to-day life? Probably not, unless you use your Facebook page as a contact point for people you don't know -- for work, say, in which case messages intended for an email address you actually use will be diverted to the Facebook messages system. The problem is that messages from people you don't know get filtered into the Other folder in your Facebook messages, without notifying you.

How do I fix this? Couldn't be simpler, old chum: click on your name in the top right, click About on the left under your profile picture, scroll down to the Contact Info box and click Edit. Next to each set of your details, there are two drop-down boxes specifying who can see each bit of data and whether it gets displayed on your timeline. Change your @Facebook.com address to Hidden from Timeline, and click Save at the bottom. Done!

Is this another sneaky move from Facebook or did we sign away our privacy the moment we signed up? Tell me your thoughts in the locked-down comments.

New iPhone could pack NFC for mobile payments with Passbook

The next iPhone could come with NFC tech built-in, making it possible to pay for things using your Apple-branded blower.

9to5Mac has been digging around in code taken from iPhone prototypes, and reports to have discovered near-field communication controllers hooked up to the device's power management unit.

That suggests Apple's next rectangular playthings could come with NFC hardware on board, letting you transfer data between devices with ease, or pay for fancy Pret sandwiches by smacking your smart phone against in-shop pay points.

NFC has been cropping up on Android smart phones, most notably the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which uses NFC to transfer files between phones and could work with Google Wallet -- Google's mobile payment system.

Microsoft recently touted its own NFC payment system for Windows Phone 8, inventively called Wallet. Card details are stored on your phone, and then cash is taken from that account when you wave your mobile at the till.

Code-based hints aside, there's good reason to think Apple will stick NFC in the iPhone 5. Tim Cook and cohorts recently showed off Passbook, a new app that stores digital tickets, boarding passes, coupons, vouchers and so on. NFC isn't required to use Passbook, but it could work with it, and it's a sign that Apple has your personal finances in mind.

UK network Orange has also hinted that Apple could be considering the technology for its sixth smart phone.

NFC hasn't really taken off yet, so if Apple wants to muck in, the pressure will be on for it to persuade shops to adopt the technology, and get the ball rolling.

Of course, if Apple does choose to stick an NFC chip in the iPhone 5, don't expect the company to refer to it as such -- I'm envisioning a new service called 'Cash', 'Shrapnel' or possibly, er, 'iMoolah'. Maybe.

Would you use your phone to pay for stuff in shops? Or would you rather keep your hard-earned inside a good old-fashioned wallet? Let me know in the comments.

RIM poised to flog BlackBerry business, reports reckon

BlackBerry-maker RIM could be about to make the radical move of selling its handset business, a report in the Sunday Times suggests (paywall link).

The ailing company is reportedly considering splitting itself into two companies, with one division handling handsets and the other taking charge of the company's popular messaging network.

RIM could then flog the device-devising department to another corporation. Amazon and Facebook are both mentioned in the report as "potential buyers", though no source for the information is mentioned.

Facebook is rumoured to be be beavering away on a phone of its own, so might be interested in snapping up RIM's keyboard-touting wares, which are still popular among business types andyounglings.

RIM has reportedly hired two banks to investigate the potential split, which would see a newly formed second company taking charge of RIM's messaging tools, which send secure emails and would presumably encompass BBM, the popular BlackBerry-bound instant messaging service.

That part of the company could make a tempting acquisition for rivals like Apple or Google.

Activist investor Jaguar Financial is quoted as saying it "strongly supports" breaking RIM up into two separate entities, with the Canadian company's patent portfolio another tempting asset that could be sold off.

Another option is said to be keeping the company together, but selling a stake to a bigger company, such as Microsoft. The report reckons RIM will reveal its strategy at the end of the summer, so we may not have long to wait.

The question over what RIM does with the various bits of its company highlight the fact that it does own some potentially valuable tools -- it just hasn't been able to assemble them into a compelling smart phone or tablet.

BlackBerry 10 software is on the horizon, and is reckoned to debut on a touchscreen-only phone. Could a fresh operating system turn things around for RIM? Or is more drastic action needed? Let me know in the comments.

Sony making Project Glass rival specs, share data by ogling

Sony is working on its own digital glasses to rival Google's Project Glass, according to a patent.

Like Google's specs, a built-in camera captures all your goings-on. What's unique is the ability to share info by looking at someone else wearing the same specs. That's right, to send personal info through transmitters, you have to ogle someone, which could prove a little uncomfortable. Stare to share, anyone? 

But it's not all social awkwardness. The glasses should also be able to pick up info from visual tags on posters, products, websites, and anything else. Like a more advanced form of QR code.

A microphone and speakers hint the glasses could be voice-activated as well, just like Google's Project Glass.

The glasses connect to a watch to share info too, though gadget watches have never really taken off. I love the idea of digital specs though. Maybe the 21st century will finally start living up to its promises. 

Google's Project Glass specs layer augmented reality info onto your real world view. Here they are in action. They're Internet-enabled as well, keeping you connected while out and about without having to use your phone. It's early days, with Google saying it'll be a while before they're ready to go on sale. Though some experts doubt they're even practical.

Microsoft is also working on its own digital glasses, revealed by a leaked document. Named Project Fortaleza, they're thought to connect over Wi-Fi and 4G, and to be predominantly for use with Kinect gaming. Though you will be able to use them away from the console too, which sounds far more interesting.

Will digital glasses ever replace mobiles? Or are they just fanciful concepts? Let me know in the comments.

Mozilla promises 'something big' for Android announcement

Mozilla has an announcement to make at next week's Google development conference, and if the teaser's anything to go by, it should be a major update to its Firefox Android browser.

"Fast. Smart. Safe." That's what it promises, alongside the Firefox logo on a phone screen, with the Android guy behind the handset. It also took to Twitter to let us know what's happening,Android Central reports.

"#Firefox for #Android. Something BIG is coming your way next week," reads the tweet, along with a link to the image on Flickr.

These keywords hint Mozilla will be touting new speed and security features in its latest version of Firefox for Android. Mozilla hasn't been the quickest on Android, with minor updates trickling out. The Firefox 10 update in January still wouldn't support Flash, which shows just how behind the times Mozilla can be.

But taking its time usually works in its favour. A few days ago Mozilla showed off Junior, its first browser optimised for iPad. And far from a botch job of slapping a mobile browser onto a bigger screen, Mozilla has used the strengths of the iPad in completely new ways. "We wanted to create something entirely new," said Mozilla's Alex Limi, and it looks like it's done so.

Junior is a full-screen browser, with no navigation bar cluttering up the screen. Two buttons flank the page: a back button, and one that brings up a screen with recent sites, favourites, and a URL/search bar. Everything you need to get around, in other words.

Mozilla also recently updated its Dolphin HD browser for Android, giving it a speed boost, so I'm expecting something similar for Firefox.

What would you like to see from a Firefox update? What's your mobile browser of choice? And what would Mozilla have to do with Junior to outdo Safari on the iPad? Let me know in the comments.

Judge throws out entire Apple vs Motorola case

And that is that. A judge has thrown out the Apple vs Motorola case. Judge Richard Posner had tentatively dismissed it a couple of weeks ago, but now he's done so in its entirety.

Apple had alleged Motorola had violated four of its patents, with Motorola claiming one in return,The Verge reports. The case has been going on since 2010, so this is quite a big deal.

Posner dismissed it because neither side could prove how much money the alleged patent infringements have cost them. And with both companies asking for financial compensation, it'd be pointless blocking products from sale.

"Both companies have deep pockets," Posner says in his 38-page decision. "And neither had acknowledged that damages for the infringement of its patents could not be estimated with tolerable certainty."

Apple declined to comment, but Motorola said in a statement: "We are pleased that Judge Posner formally dismissed the case against Motorola Mobility. Apple's litigation campaign began with their attempt to assert 15 patents against us. As it relates to Apple's violation of our patents, we will continue our efforts to defend our own innovation."

Apple could appeal, but I don't fancy its chances. Judge Posner warned Apple's lawyers about filing too many motions last month, so he's not one for shilly-shallying.

The patent disputes have spanned both sides of the Atlantic, with Motorola succeeding in having some Apple devices banned from sale in Germany. Though that was overturned pretty quickly. Apple won the dispute over the slide-to-unlock patent though, with Motorola infringing on its devices except for the Xoom.

I think the ruling is good news, as hopefully it'll dissuade companies from firing writs at each other at the drop of a hat. Now Apple and Google (which owns Motorola) can get back to making great products.

What do you reckon? Let me know in the comments.

Samsung makes it easy to ditch iOS with free transfer app

Samsung's offering anyone in the UK who buys a Galaxy device a free app that transfers your contacts and data over from an iPhone.

The free app is called Easy Phone Sync, and transfers contacts, messages and photos, as well as any DRM-free music and video. It does this using an iTunes backup created on your computer.

There are two parts to the software, so as well as having the app on your Galaxy phone, you'll need to install some software on your Mac or PC. Currently the tool is only available on certain Samsung Galaxy mobiles, and can only be used in the UK.

Transferring data using the app means you'll be able to continue using iTunes to manage your tunes, podcasts and videos, which is handy for anyone who's heavily invested in Apple's desktop software.

Offering the app is a smart move, as feeling like you're already knee-deep in one manufacturer's software and apps is a serious obstacle to trying a new operating system. The news will be welcome to any iPhone owners who have been curiously eyeing Samsung's latest Galaxy S3smart phone.

In a statement, a Samsung exec said, "We know that traditionally iPhone users have been reluctant to switch to an Android device because they couldn't use iTunes to manage their content."

Samsung's new boss recently said the company needs to improve the software it offers. The Galaxy S3 is nigh-on unbeatable when it comes to processing grunt, and offers a brilliant 720p display, but I think Samsung has work to do if it wants to pull ahead of Apple's app-laden iOS platform.

Are you an iPhone owner thinking of abandoning Apple? Or are you already hanging out in Samsung's camp, roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories? Let me know in the comments.

Sony Xperia S gets Ice Cream Sandwich at last

The Sony Xperia S is finally getting its mitts on Ice Cream Sandwich, bringing a dose of up-to-date Android to Sony's flagship mobile.

Sony writes on its blog that the latest software will be winging its way to Sony smart phones today, though it will take several weeks for the update to arrive on every phone.

If you can't wait to see what the new software will look like, Sony's made a demo video, which I've embedded below. Sony's also putting together a list of Xperia S devices by sales item number, so you can check if the update is available for your phone yet.

The update introduces new music, photo and video apps, called 'Walkman', 'Album' and 'Movies', along with interface tweaks that arrive with Ice Cream Sandwich.

That includes a new lock screen that lets you drag down a notification bar from the top of the screen, displaying texts, upcoming events and the like. Ice Cream Sandwich also brings the ability to control your data usage, tracking how much Internet you're consuming and setting limits to prevent your Xperia S from guzzling more than it should.

Face Unlock gets you into your phone using your phizzog, and you can get to the camera app from the lock screen by swiping to the left, or holding the camera button down for a moment.

Tabs come to the browser, and a new button lets you force websites to go to the desktop version rather than a mobile version.

Welcome additions all, though it's daft that Xperia S owners had to wait so long to get their hands on the latest version of Android. Then again, Sony has praised Android's older Gingerbread software, saying that it's "not a bad idea to stay," rather than upgrading to Ice Cream Sandwich.

It briefly looked like Ice Cream Sandwich would arrive on the Xperia S back in May, but Sony said that estimate was an error, caused by a support staffer mixing up his Xperias.

The Xperia S itself offers a high-res screen and a decent camera, but the design feels a tad clunky. Check out our video review below, and let me know if you've seen the Android update popping up on your Xperia S.

Are you a fan of Sony's mobiles? How do you think they rate against Samsung's Galaxy smart phones? Let me know in the comments.

Windows Phone 8 sucker punches Windows Phone fans

Yesterday Microsoft showed Windows Phone fans what to expect when the next iteration of its mobile operating system lands this autumn -- and simultaneously sucker-punched its most loyal fans by confirming existing Windows Phones won't be getting an update to Windows Phone 8.

Let me make that point really clear: if you just shelled out for a Windows Phone you won't be able to update it to Windows Phone 8. "The answer, unfortunately, is no," as Windows Phone head honcho Joe Belfiore put it in a blog post about the changes.

What does Windows Phone 8 bring? Lots of the things the platform has been sorely missing up to now -- including support for multi-core chips, higher resolution screens, expandable storage, NFC, improved mapping, in-app payments and even a more flexible homescreen, with three different sizes of live tiles now supported. That doesn't matter so much for existing WP users, as we'll see.

(Incidentally, the new look Windows Phone live tiles effectively recreates the mix of widgets and icons you get on an Android device -- just with a more regimented look.)

Much more importantly, Windows Phone 8 will also share a core with Microsoft's next gen desktop OS Windows 8 -- which should make life much easier for app developers and thus encourage many more apps to be created for handsets.

All of which sounds great, but if you own any one of Nokia's Lumia phones -- or indeed any other Windows Phone 7 or 7.5 device -- Microsoft has just left you out in the cold.

The pace of technology change does mean hardware becomes defunct relatively quickly -- but the Windows Phone platform isn't even two years old yet. Contrast this to the recent announcement by Apple that iOS 6 would be coming to the iPhone 3GS, a device that launched back in 2009. Now, Apple's approach is something of a fudge -- it has left out some features and previous updates have not worked brilliantly on its older hardware -- but it's hard not to feel burned on Windows Phone fans' behalf.

The oldest Nokia Lumia has barely been with us for a year and a half. Nokia's newest Lumias -- the 610 and 900 -- are still box fresh.

There's no getting away from it, this is a really nasty way to treat your most faithful supporters.

Aptly enough, the Greek god Apollo -- Microsoft's code name for Windows Phone 8 -- was considered a bit of a mixed blessing, being both associated with medicine and healing but also sickliness and death by plague.

On the surface, Windows Phone 8 looks like it will mend a lot of the OS's major shortcomings. But its arrival creates a sickly subsection of Windows Phone hardware that won't be benefitting from most of these fixes. Don't expect Windows Phone 8 apps to run on your Windows Phone 7.5 phone. There's no backwards compatibility for apps. That door has been closed.

Sure, existing Windows Phone owners were never going to get higher resolution screens or dual-core chips via a software update, but these people have previously been told they don't need better hardware -- that Windows Phone handsets were good enough already and stuff likemulticore chips was just a waste of time.

Microsoft has now made it really clear the opposite is true -- and flagged up the unfortunate truth that its most loyal followers have been sold a donkey, not a racehorse.

In reviews of recent Windows Phones such as the Lumia 900 I've warned potential buyers to beware the risk of being saddled with an expensive bright blue brick, because of the question mark about future updates. Sad to say, Microsoft has not been keeping its fans so well informed -- despite being fully aware the shift to basing Windows Phone on the same kernel as desktop Windows would cut the umbilical cord to Windows Phone 7.5.

There was no official confirmation of the looming schism between Windows Phone 7 and 8. Instead Microsoft opted for a 'no comment' approach which, here at CNET Towers, set the alarm bells ringing. But the average mobile buyer walking into a phone shop wanting a new device and coming out with a shiny new Windows Phone would probably have been none the wiser.

It's doubly galling since the people who bought Windows Phone handsets were already making do with fewer (and much more expensive) apps than Android and iOS owners enjoy -- and less capable hardware. Yet now their loyalty and willingness to support a mobile underdog is being rewarded with a bloody nose.

In an attempt to soften this blow, Microsoft is going to parachute in one more update on Windows Phone 7.5. This will be known, rather unfortunately it must be said, as Windows Phone 7.8 -- and will mean you do get the new homescreen.

But a new homescreen is poor compensation for such shoddy treatment. Microsoft should be careful about playing fast and loose with mobile users' goodwill. It can ill afford to alienate people when there are scores of highly capable and affordable Android phones up for grabs. Or years-old Apple iPhones which aren't being prematurely shut out of the iOS playground.

The Windows Phone 8 schism is also very bad news for Nokia -- which is desperately trying to shift existing Lumias, having killed the Symbian cash-cow by giving Windows Phone a bear-hug. Who's going to buy a Lumia 900 or Lumia 800 now -- knowing full well these phones are being cut off from the platform's future? Nokia has said it will be bringing some "visual enhancements" to Lumia owners, but you can practically hear Stephen Elop scrabbling around for loose change to fling in their direction.

As for Windows Phone 8 -- these updates are certainly welcome but there's no getting away from how late they are. Microsoft remains on the back foot, playing catchup with Android and iOS. And the big question for mobile lovers -- why should I buy into a poorer ecosystem? -- has not yet gone away.

Windows Phone fans are going to have to carry on being patient -- with another three or four months to wait for the arrival of the (re)rebooted Windows Phone. And, come the autumn, Microsoft is going to have to hope and pray it hasn't used up all their goodwill.

Next-gen Swype keyboard wants to get to know you better

Swype is growing up and it wants to get to know you better.

Many Android fans will already be familiar with the nifty Swype keyboard -- which lets you drag your finger over letters to form words, rather than hen pecking each individual letter.

Swype comes preloaded on around 200 million phones now -- scores of Android phones and some Symbian and MeeGo devices, either as the full Swype keyboard, or in the form of underlying tech powering a maker-tweaked Swype-style keyboard.

The technology is owned by Nuance, which also recently acquired Vlingo, the Android voice-assistant technology. Nuance's voice smarts are also licensed by Apple for its robo-concierge Siri.

So what can Swype fans expect in the next iteration of the fantastic finger-dragging keyboard?

Firstly, better next-word prediction -- new Swype will learn your lingo and peruse your word history so it can better predict whatever you're typing next, according to Nuance tech architect John West, who demoed the software in a briefing with CNET UK.

Always signing off an email with the world's most patronising phrase, 'thanks in advance'? Swype 'thanks' and -- after a small getting to know you period -- the cunning keyboard will suggest you follow this with 'in' and then 'advance' so you don't even have to Swype the other two words. Almost like it's patronising you.

If you like to make up your own slang, new Swype has your back there too as you can add custom words to a personalised dictionary -- which can be edited to jettison slang that's no longer the shizzle.

New Swype also wants you to talk to it -- for this it's leaning on Nuance's natural language processing and voice-recognition skills.

When you add a word to your dictionary, the software sends it off to the cloud and adds it to the individual verbal arsenal it's building on you. So, in time, you'll be able to successfully dictate the word 'vajazzlified' as well as Swyping it, should you really want to weird out everyone in your immediate vicinity.

To use dictation on the new Swype keyboard you tap the dictation key -- the blue square with the white flame symbol on it at the bottom of the keyboard (shown running on an HTC One X in the photo above) -- then speak your sentence to the phone, which sends your noise off to its cloud-based language processing machinery and then slots the transcribed text back in your message.

The dictation engine is learning, says West -- with only around 300,000 words in the English language system currently. But the more people use Swype, the more words will be added to the system to improve it, he says.

Tablet device users will also be able to resize the new Swype keyboard to make it a more suitable size for finger-dragging action on their slate. This not only means Swyping on tablets will speed up, says West, but the resized keyboard can also be positioned wherever you fancy.

Other tweaks include language downloads so you can change the language you're Swyping in to one of more than 55 supported lingos, improved one-handed Swyping, and tweaks to Nuance's touch-typing algorithms for those who do want to henpeck letters to make words.

New Swype will also check out your social network accounts and email to harvest the names of your buddies to help it work out who you're talking about in your texts and emails.

Nuance hopes the all-new Swype software will arrive in phones hitting the shops before Christmas.

Are you a Swype lover or do you prefer tip-tapping on individual keys? Type your views in the comments below.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 tipped for October, to fight iPhone 5

A follow-up to the Galaxy Note is rumoured to be landing in October, to compete with Apple's new iPhone, reports from MK Business News suggest.

Industry sources allegedly disclosed details of the smart phone sequel, with the Galaxy Note 2 tipped to launch running Android Jelly Bean and touting an even larger screen.

Yes, you read that right -- the already-ludicrous 5.3-inch display is pegged for expansion, which means it'll double as a sledge when the winter comes, and a tray to carry the turkey on come Christmas Day.

That larger screen could use a new display tech too. The report makes mention of an 'unbreakable plane' (UBP) display, which is supposedly a precursor to the flexible display we're all dreaming of, and will make for a skinnier device overall.

Longer battery life and a more robust frame are among other purported new goodies, along with a quad-core processor.

The Galaxy Note has been a surprise hit, with Samsung recently boasting that it had shipped 7 million of the monolithic mobiles -- an increase of 2 million since the end of March.

Plenty of people are keen on massive phones, it seems. I've seen some people complaining about the design of the rounded Galaxy S3, but hardly any grumpiness regarding its palm-filling 4.8-inch display.

As for the Galaxy Note 2, it's best to take any speculative specs with a handful of salt. But I'd be flabbergasted if Samsung didn't release a follow-up to the Note -- after all, the company lovessequels, and it likes making lots and lots and lots of different phones.

Would you be interested in a Galaxy Note sequel? What's the largest screen size you'd consider pocketing? Let me know in the comments.

Huawei Honour big battery phone out today in the UK

The Huawei Honour is out today in the UK, offering Brits a 4-inch screen and a buxom battery. Best of all, Huawei's even managed to spell the name correctly for the UK launch.

The Huawei Honour first surfaced way back in September last year, but is only now winging its way to UK retailers. Currently it's available through independent retailers such as Expansys, Clove or Play.com, with Expansys seeming to offer the cheapest deal, flogging the phone for £210.

You get a healthy amount of hardware for your money, thanks to an 8-megapixel camera, 1.4GHz processor, 480x854-pixel display and the 1,900mAh battery, which Huawei reckons will bag you days of battery life between charges.

We'll test that claim when it comes time for the full review, so hold fire before throwing down your hard-won cash. It's a tempting proposition though, especially as so many high-end smart phones seem to drain all their juice within hours, like some kind of crazy, dehydrated 5-year-old.

There's one big downside, and that's that the Honour is powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread, rather than Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version. There's nothing wrong with Gingerbread, but if you're hungering for the very latest edition, this phone should be passed over like a hobbit at basketball tryouts.

There are a few software treats in store however -- Huawei's bundled the Honour with its own HAP 5.1 interface, which lets you quickly access apps from the phone's lock screen. Nifty.

The company's recent Ascend G300 won our coveted Editors' Choice award, for offering an incredible amount of phone for the £100 price tag. Here's hoping the Honour proves equally impressive.

Are you Honour mission to buy this phone? Or (if you'll allow me to recycle a pun from last September), would you prefer death before this Honour? Let me know in the comments.

Google Nexus 7 tablet won't have 3G or camera, rumours say

More details have trickled out about the hotly tipped Google tablet, the Nexus 7. The 7-inch Android tablet will be the first to show off Jelly Bean, and now sources say it won't have a main camera or 3G. Can the Google Nexus 7 face up to the iPad or the new Microsoft Surface and Microsoft Surface Pro?

In order to keep the cost down to the rumoured $200 (£125), it seems Google and tablet manufacturer Asus plan to only offer Wi-Fi for connecting to the web, with no 3G option.

Industry watcher DigiTimes reports that component suppliers for the Nexus 7 also say there's no main camera -- just a lower-resolution front-facing camera for video calls.

Perhaps it's this camera that captured two photos posted to Google's online photo-sharing service Picasa, which claim to have been captured by a device called Nexus 7. The 1,280x960-pixel snaps are of the ceiling in 'Google Building 44', according to the attached geotagging metadata. One has since been deleted.

It's a tough market the Nexus 7 enters: making Android tablets is a hard row to hoe. None of them have come close to toppling the iPad as the most popular slate. Things are so tough, LG is giving up on tablets entirely to focus on phones.

And things got even tougher today with the announcement of the Microsoft Surface andMicrosoft Surface Pro, flagship Windows 8 tablets that introduce the world to the next generation of the software that runs most of the world's homes and offices -- and by the end of this year will power tablets too.

The Nexus 7 will not only have to contend with the apparently invincible marketing of the iPad, but also with the widespread brand recognition of Windows. In fact, this is turning into a three-way head-to-head battle of the brands between Apple, Microsoft and Google, with the latter two putting their own names on the hardware for the first time. Who will win?

It's a safe bet that the Nexus 7 will take a bow at Google I/O, the annual Android developer event on 27 June in San Francisco.

Are you looking forward to the Google Nexus 7? Has the Microsoft Surface raised the bar for Android tablets? Tell me your thoughts in the comments.

How to protect your passwords with LastPass

Who can recall the countless website passwords we're asked to stuff into our overspilling brain boxes? And how do we make sure they don't fall into the hands of rogues? One answer is to turn to password manager LastPass -- a service that creates a secure ID on your computer that will remember your passwords and effortlessly log you into your favourite sites.

Each web account we hold stores data we've entered about ourselves and it all has to be protected. In this guide, we'll look at why you should be using a better password protection strategy, reasons to trust LastPass, how to install it and how to use it.

Password security should be on everyone's mind since -- at the time of writing -- LinkedIn,Last.fm, and eHarmony had all recently had their password hash databases published online. While hashes aren't the actual passwords, those of weak passwords such as dictionary words can be translated back into the original password with relative ease.

Are your passwords on this list of the 25 worst passwords of 2011? If so, you really need to get your online security in order!

How LastPass looks after your passwords

Like most websites, LastPass uses hashing algorithms to process your account details and authenticate you. However, just as recent news has shown, even hashing algorithms aren't bulletproof when applied poorly.

LastPass stores a hash of your email address and master password on your computer (not its servers), which it uses as an encryption key to encode your login details for other sites (with a 256-bit AES cypher), before storing them on its servers.

The company doesn't want to know any of your details or your encryption key, so it creates a unique ID token for you by hashing your password and local encryption key together. That ID token is then hashed with a random number when you create your account, which is -- finally -- how it authenticates your account.

Assuming this has won your trust, let's get down to business.

Installing LastPass on your desktop and browsers

Whether you're a Linux, Windows or OS X user, there's a desktop download available for you. Just download the installer for your operating system and follow the instructions.

The first option you'll be presented with is which browser plugins to install -- Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari are all supported.

If your browser isn't listed, you can use LastPass' bookmarklets (see below). The following options ask whether you want to replace the password manager in each of the browsers you've opted to add a plugin to.

Next, you'll be asked to create, or log in to, a LastPass account, after which you then import passwords from your desktop browsers. Once you've imported any saved passwords, it will even offer to cover your tracks by removing all those passwords from your various browser password caches.

Bookmarklets for browsers that don't support plugins

If your browser doesn't support plugins, you can install bookmarklets that will retrieve your login details for you instead.

Sign in and click 'bookmarklets' in the left-hand column of your 'Vault' page. This will launch a pop-up box with three links you can drag onto your bookmark bar.

Firstly, 'LastPass Login!' gives you a one-click login for most websites (the JavaScript bookmarklet won't work properly with some websites). Secondly, 'Lastpass Fill!' fills in login forms without logging you in. And finally, 'LastPass Fill Forms!' actually fills in web forms such as your contact and payment details with info you've stored in your account.

Mobile devices

Use of mobile apps for LastPass is one of the few features that require a premium account -- which is actually quite cheap. Priced at just one US dollar per month, the cost should be trivial to most people. There is a mobile application for just about every mobile platform you can think of -- Android, Android's Dolphin HD and Firefox Mobile browsers, iOS (iPhone and iPad), Windows Phone 7, Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and even webOS.

The mobile apps not only provide access to all of your account data, but also feature a built-in browser that can automatically log you into your web accounts. This circumvents having your sensitive accounts, like with banks, saved in your default browser's history.

If you're using a mobile device that doesn't have an app, there's also m.lastpass.com, where you can view your account data and install bookmarklets in your mobile browser.

Using LastPass on the desktop

After installing the plugin on your desktop browser, you'll notice pop-up toolbars offering to remember or fill in your login details as you visit websites. Via this toolbar, you can set whether LastPass will fill in the username and password fields on a per-site basis. Clicking the options button in the LastPass toolbar allows you to set more preferences, such as auto-login, and adding the site to your favourites list.

The plugin is smart enough to know when you're changing your password too. By clicking the 'Generate' button, you'll be given a new random password, which LastPass will submit to the website in question for you, and update your password database.

This is the real value in using LastPass. It makes changing your passwords easy and gives you the auto-login ability so you never need to remember your passwords again.

As you explore the LastPass settings, you'll find that you can even store various profiles for filling in forms that contain your contact and credit card details.

Making LastPass even more secure

If using a simple username and password isn't good enough or you, LastPass offers a range of methods to make authenticating yourself even more secure -- if you're a premium user. You can create a set of One Time Passwords (OTPs), which is a list of passwords where each expires after being used once. Taking OTPs a step further, you can combine them with multi-factor authentication via your smart phone with Google Authenticator, via a YubiKey device, runningSesame on any USB drive, or even a printed grid of characters.

LG is giving up on tablets to focus on phones

LG is quitting the tablet game, at least for a while. The South Korean company is ditching efforts to compete with Apple's iPad, and instead is going to occupy its time building more phones, Bloomberg reports.

"We've decided to put all new tablet development on the back burner," an LG spokesman said, "in order to focus on smart phones."

LG was one of a great many manufacturers that tried to crack the tablet market following the introduction of Apple's first iPad, releasing the LG Optimus Pad -- a gadget that aimed to stand out from the crowd by shooting 3D video, although it wasn't possible to watch 3D video on the tablet itself.

It didn't make much of a dent, however. LG followed the Pad with an LTE-enabled tablet (unsurprisingly dubbed the Optimus Pad LTE), which I got my mitts on at Mobile World Congress this year. It was an impressively slim tablet at 9.3mm thick, and had an 8-megapixel camera on the back. But the 4G tech inside means we won't be seeing it in the UK.

Much as I'd love to see more compelling Android tablets on sale, this feels like a smart move for LG. Its smart phones are alright -- devices like the Prada Phone are functional and look interesting, while the ludicrous 4:3 Optimus Vu is at least a bit different -- but could use some work if the company wants to compete with Samsung and Apple.

Focusing on doing one thing right can be a clever tactic, and trying to compete in the Apple-dominated tablet world can prove a costly mistake -- something HP and RIM have learned the hard way.

As one company quits tablets, another enters the fray -- last night Microsoft unveiled its own-brand Surface tablet, powered by Windows 8 and rocking a fold-out cover that doubles as a keyboard.

Can Microsoft succeed where other companies have failed? What's the key to taking on the iPad? Let me know in the comments.

These are the best renders yet of the iPhone 5

Apple didn't let anything slip about the iPhone 5 at WWDC, so leave it to the Internet. These are the finest iPhone 5 renders so far, knocked up by Martin Hajek on Flickr.

Click through to see the full gallery.

Hajek punted out his renders of the black iPhone 5 last week, based on the backplate we spied recently. He's not the first to put together a render based on what we've been hearing rumour-wise, but these are the prettiest yet.

The iPhone as imagined by Hajek features the striped aluminium back, as well as the larger 16:9 screen that's expected to make an appearance on the next gen Jesus phone. The screen on the next iPhone is expected to be 4-inches tall but no wider than the existing 3.5-incher, and with an aspect ratio ideal for movies.

The next iPhone is expected to launch around October time, which is the same time as Windows 8. As well as the bigger screen, it'll come touting the next generation of its software,iOS 6. New additions include Apple's own mapping software (replacing Google Maps), as well as turn-by-turn navigation, meaning the phone doubles as a sat-nav.

A much-improved Siri will also be on board, thankfully capable of telling us about local businesses like pubs, restaurants and taxi services. Previously it could only do this in America.

The iPhone 5 may well have the same A5X chip as in the new iPad too, boosting performance and making it even more of a gaming heavyweight than the iPhone 4S. We could have 4G by the end of the year, so the iPhone 5 could well be 4G-equipped for super-fast surfing and downloads.

What do you think of these renders? And what are you hoping for from the next iPhone? Let me know in the comments.